It's crunch time for the movie business. Print labs, publicity machines, moguls' teeth--all are grinding overtime to get a bunch of pricey or prestige-laden films into theaters by Christmastime. You'd think Hollywood was Toys "R" Us, doing a Simba's share of business at year-end, or that releasing a serious film at holiday time helped win Oscars. No and no. The summer is still box-office prime time; and in the past five years, only six of the 25 Oscar nominees for Best Picture were released in December. Yet that is when studios launch dozens of ambitious films, as if Academy voters had no long-term memory and the public had nothing better to do in the hectic shopping days before Christmas.
This season carries heavy freight: six films from the directors of Best Picture Oscars (Allen, Brooks, Coppola, Costner, Eastwood, Spielberg). There will be work from Tarantino and Scorsese, sightings of Bond and Magoo. And finally, ladies and gentlemen, women and children, accountants and foreclosers, presenting the costliest film ever made: Titanic, James Cameron's $200 million resinking of the liner, with young lovers Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslet onboard.
The more serious holiday films come with a doctor's prescription: take Amistad (or Kundun or Welcome to Sarajevo), it's good for you. But these dosages are suitable mainly for movie critics and Academy members. Real people go to the kind of fare they pay to see the rest of the year: comedies (Jerry Maguire in 1996), fantasies (101 Dalmatians) and thrillers (Scream). You can expect Flubber, Tomorrow Never Dies and--why not?--Scream 2 to make similar noise this year.
The real fun of any movie season is encountering the unpredictable. A critical darling like The English Patient can become a crowd pleaser; a surefire hit can be just a lump of coal in a studio's stocking. For now, only Santa knows.
TITLE MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL
OPENS Nov. 21
PLAYERS Kevin Spacey, John Cusack; director Clint Eastwood
IN A PHRASE The movie of the perennial best seller
CHRISTMAS WISH Bring 'em in with Southern decadence a la Grisham
NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION Don't hire stars because they can act; hire stars people will pay to see
[TITLE] MORTAL KOMBAT ANNIHILATION
[OPENS] Nov. 21
[PLAYERS] Martial-arts star Robin Shou in sequel to video-game hit
[IN A PHRASE] Kick-butters save the universe
[CHRISTMAS WISH] Enhance 1995 film's wow-ish $70 mil. B.O.
[NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION] Video dweebs are a fickle crowd; better gear up a Crash Bandicoot movie
[TITLE] THE RAINMAKER
[OPENS] Nov. 21
[PLAYERS] Matt Damon, Claire Danes; director Francis Coppola
[IN A PHRASE] New Grisham villain: insurance companies
[CHRISTMAS WISH] Grisham's Law: $100 mil. B.O. almost guaranteed
[NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION] After The Chamber and trouble on The Gingerbread Man, rethink Grisham's Law
[TITLE] ALIEN RESURRECTION
[OPENS] Nov. 26
[PLAYERS] Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder; dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet
[IN A PHRASE] Sci-fear, to the fourth power
[CHRISTMAS WISH] To scare up more than Alien 3's $55 million